New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Over seventy percent of interactions are non-work related as weekly users pass seven hundred million
OpenAI has released a major internal study, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Economic Research and Harvard, showing that ChatGPT now exceeds seven hundred million weekly users, and that the majority of user activity is decidedly personal rather than work-related.
Data from more than 1.5 million messages between May 2024 and June/July 2025 reveal that about seventy-three percent of conversations are non-work related.
The research also shows that daily message volumes have surged from roughly four hundred fifty-one million in June 2024 to around 2.63 billion in June 2025.
Young adults aged 18–25 account for almost forty-six percent of use, and the gender balance has shifted from a strong male majority toward a slight female majority (about fifty-two percent).
Among message types, “asking” — advice or seeking information — is the largest category at nearly half of all messages, followed by “doing” (such as writing, planning or simple productivity tasks) at forty percent, and “expressing” (reflection, creativity, emotional content) at eleven percent.
Use of ChatGPT for coding or programming remains small, at about four percent, and task-types related to work have declined over the period, with work-use messages falling from about forty-seven percent to twenty-seven percent of all messages.
The report suggests that while growth in user base remains strong and international, usage among existing users is stabilizing, particularly those who began before mid-2025, indicating a maturing stage of adoption rather than explosive rise.
Data from more than 1.5 million messages between May 2024 and June/July 2025 reveal that about seventy-three percent of conversations are non-work related.
The research also shows that daily message volumes have surged from roughly four hundred fifty-one million in June 2024 to around 2.63 billion in June 2025.
Young adults aged 18–25 account for almost forty-six percent of use, and the gender balance has shifted from a strong male majority toward a slight female majority (about fifty-two percent).
Among message types, “asking” — advice or seeking information — is the largest category at nearly half of all messages, followed by “doing” (such as writing, planning or simple productivity tasks) at forty percent, and “expressing” (reflection, creativity, emotional content) at eleven percent.
Use of ChatGPT for coding or programming remains small, at about four percent, and task-types related to work have declined over the period, with work-use messages falling from about forty-seven percent to twenty-seven percent of all messages.
The report suggests that while growth in user base remains strong and international, usage among existing users is stabilizing, particularly those who began before mid-2025, indicating a maturing stage of adoption rather than explosive rise.
